Ruling
on the Muslims celebrating at the time of Christmas and decorating their homes
with balloons etc (giving or receiving Christmas cards, saying "Merry
Christmas", allowing your children to take part in Activities at school,
wearing Christmas jumpers, eating Christmas dinners or any of these things
relating to this celebration).
Question:
What
do you say to Muslims in the United Kingdom who celebrate Christmas time by
holding dinner parties in their houses on Christmas or afterwards, for their
Muslim families, such as preparing roast turkey and the other dishes of the
traditional Christmas dinner, and they adorn their houses with balloons and
paper chains, and they do the “secret Santa” tradition, whereby each relative
brings a gift for one of the people present and these gifts are brought to the
party to be given to the one for whom he bought it, without the recipient
knowing who he is. [“Secret Santa” is a new, growing custom among non-Muslims
who celebrate Christmas, and it is in accordance with their belief in the myth
of Santa Claus].
Is
this action regarded as halaal or haraam, if no one is attending this party
except Muslims (relatives and family members)?.
Praise
be to Allaah.
There
is no doubt that what is mentioned of celebrations is *haraam*, because it is
an imitation of the kuffaar. It is well known that the Muslims do not have any
festival apart from Eid al-Fitr and Eid al-Adha, and the weekly “Eid” which is
Friday (Yawm al-Jumu‘ah). Celebrating any other festival is not allowed and is
either of two things:
✖either
it is an innovation (bid‘ah), if it is celebrated as a means of drawing close
to Allaah, such as celebrating the Prophet’s Birthday (Mawlid);
✖or
it is an imitation of the kuffaar, if it is celebrated as a tradition and not
as an act of worship, because introducing innovated festivals is the action of
the people of the Book who we are commanded to differ from.
So
how about if it is a celebration of one of their actual festivals?
Decorating
the house with balloons at this time is obviously joining in with the kuffaar
and celebrating their festival.
What
the Muslim is required to do is not to single out these days for any kind of
celebration, decorating or adornment, or special foods, otherwise he will be
joining the kuffaar in their festivals, which is something that is undoubtedly
haraam.
Sheikh
Ibn ‘Uthaimeen (رحمه الله تعالى) said: Similarly it is
forbidden for the Muslims to imitate the kuffaar by holding parties on these
occasions, or exchanging gifts, or distributing sweets or other foods, or
taking time off work and so on, because the Prophet (صلى الله عليه و سلم) said: “Whoever imitates a people is one of
them.”
Sheikh
ul-Islaam Ibn Taymiyah رحمه الله تعالى said in his book Iqtida’ al-Siraat al-Mustaqeem Mukhaalifat
Ashaab al-Jaheem: 'Imitating them on some of their festivals implies that one
is happy with the falsehood they are following, and that could make them (the
non-Muslims) take this opportunity to mislead those who are weak in faith.'
Those
who do any of these things are sinning, whether they do it to go along with
them, or to be friendly towards them, or because they feel too shy (to refuse
to join in) or any other reason, because it is a kind of compromising the
religion of Allaah to please others, and it is a means of lifting the spirits
of the Kuffaar and making them proud of their religion,
·
From Fataawa Ibn
‘Uthaimeen رحمه الله تعالى, 3/44
Sheikh-ul-Islaam
Ibn Taymiyah (رحمه الله تعالى) was asked about a Muslim
who makes the food of the Christians on Nawrooz (Persian New Year) and on all
their occasions such as Epiphany and other feast days, and who sells them
things to help them celebrate their festivals. Is it permissible for the
Muslims to do any of these things or not?
He
replied: Praise be to Allaah. It is *not*
permissible for the Muslims to imitate them in any way that is unique to their
festivals, whether it be food, clothes, bathing, lighting fires or refraining
from usual work or worship, and so on. And it is not permissible to give a
feast or to exchange gifts or to sell things that help them to celebrate their
festivals, or to let children and others play the games that are played on
their festivals, or to adorn oneself or put up decorations. In general,
(Muslims) are not allowed to single out the festivals of the kuffaar for any of
these rituals or customs. Rather the day of their festivals is just an ordinary
day for the Muslims, and they should not single it out for any activity that is
part of what the Kuffaar do on these days.
·
From al-Fataawa
al-Kubra, 2/487; Majmoo‘ al-Fataawa, 25/329
See also Question no. 13642** Please refer to our audio page for further information on this topic.
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